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Love On Trial
By Diana Palmer Harlequin Enterprises Limited
Copyright © 2002 Harlequin Enterprises Limited
All right reserved. ISBN: 0373512074
The little coffee shop was crowded, its spotless white linen tablecloths and tempting aromas drawing a maximum crowd, but the two stubborn young women weren't discouraged. They managed to find one empty table and collapsed into the dainty chairs, spilling their packages onto the floor with weary sighs.
"I thought you said the stores would all be empty on a day this hot," Marty reminded her friend with a glare over the single rose in its ceramic budvase.
The slender young blonde only smiled, her amber eyes sparkling. "I didn't say empty of what," she laughed.
"Oh, Siri," her friend moaned, "you're just impossible!"
Cyrene Jamesson studied the oversized menu with silent amusement, warming to the sound of her nickname. No one called her Cyrene except Mark; but, then, her conservative-minded boyfriend never called anyone by a nickname.
She put the menu aside after making an instant decision, and watched Marty frown uncertainly over the varieties of coffee and pastries.
"Why not close your eyes and point at one?" Siri suggested helpfully.
"That's easy for you to say," came the reply. "You don't have to watch your weight."
She sighed. "At the speed I move, it's impossible to gain weight."
"You didn't have to be a reporter, you know," Marty reminded her.
Siri looked thunderstruck."You mean," she said in mock astonishment, "there are other professions that cater to crazy people?"
"You're not crazy."
"No," Siri agreed. "Most people run river races in inner tubes, hang out of airplanes with 35 mm cameras, lie down behind cars while police tear-gas snipers, and chase bank robbers down back streets."
Marty closed her eyes. "Deliver me," she whispered.
Seconds later, a young, harried waitress darted toward them with her order book in hand, almost panting with the effort. "Sorry I took so long," she apologized. "We're swamped today!"
"Only because the coffee's so good." Siri smiled.
The waitress beamed and took their order, darting off again in a flurry of ruffled apron.
"Miss Diplomacy strikes again," Marty laughed, tossing her dark hair.
"It doesn't cost anything to be nice to people," Siri reminded her.
"Reporters are supposed to be hard, uncompromising and stubborn," Marty remarked. "Aren't they?"
"That's only a stereotype. You can't lump people into groups and label them anymore, it's too complicated."
"Thanks for the benefit of that priceless bit of wisdom from Psychology 102," Marty laughed.
"Wait till we get the pastries and coffee," Siri threatened, "and I'll treat you to a lecture on Glasser's theories."
"Please, we don't all share your fascination with abnormal psychology," came a moan from the other side of the table. "How does your poor old Dad stand it?"
"He likes it."
"He would," Marty grumbled. "Does Hawke?"
The light went out of Siri's rosy complexioned face.
"Don't mention that savage to me," Siri growled.
"Siri, what's wrong with you?" her friend wondered. "Half the women in the country would give their eye-teeth just to meet that gorgeous man. And there he is, your father's partner, one of the most famous criminal lawyers alive, and you don't even like him!"
"Hawke doesn't go out of his way to be likeable," she replied quietly. "He thinks all women should be locked up in harems and only let out once a year to have their hair trimmed."
"While you, my dotty friend, are the world's foremost libber."
"Guilty as charged." Siri smiled. "Hawke's too macho for my taste. We've always knocked sparks from each
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Love On Trial by Diana Palmer Copyright © 2002 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited
Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
